In the heart of Kuala Lumpur lies the abandoned foundation of Plaza Rakyat, a never-built skyscraper and shopping mall. Rusty rebar jutting from concrete pilings and fetid green pools of rainwater serve as an unintended monument to the debt crisis that ravaged Asia in the late 1990s.

Today, less than a half mile from the abandoned project, the next boom is under way in the Malaysian metropolis. Construction has begun on a new subway line, and next to one station plans call for a 118-story zigzagging skyscraper that would...